Finding Your Own True Myth: What I Learned from Joseph Campbell: The Myth of the Great Secret III

Toby Johnson’s spiritual/philosophical autobiography, Finding Your Own True Myth—The Myth of the Great Secret III, is both a loving memorial to Joseph Campbell and an original extension of his work. Johnson, later a psychotherapist, religions scholar, novelist, and gay spirituality writer, offers insight into the vital role that myth—and insight into myth—play in the modern world. More

From Joseph Campbell, the renowned comparative religions and mythology scholar, Toby Johnson derived his central insight that there is a “new myth” arising in human consciousness. This is the understanding of the nature of myth itself, a “meta-myth,” the “myth of myth,” according to which our lives are always giving us clues to the secret of our true and deepest nature, and our salvation comes from following our own unique clues.

One of the clues that many cultures share is the tradition of the “wise old man,” the elder who serves as guide, teacher, and companion, helping others on the path to enlightenment. When Toby Johnson, a young Catholic seminarian, left the monastery on his own unconventional spiritual journey, he had the good fortune to find such a teacher in the person of Joseph Campbell. Johnson says in the introduction: Joe demonstrated how to gently leave behind the naïve religiousness of youth and find wonder, meaning, and bliss in a new post-mythic, but re-mythologized, spiritual consciousness.

Toby Johnson’s spiritual/philosophical autobiography, Finding Your Own True Myth—The Myth of the Great Secret III, is both a loving memorial to Campbell and an original extension of his work. Johnson, later a psychotherapist, religions scholar, novelist, and gay spirituality writer, offers insight into the vital role that myth—and insight into myth—play in the modern world and inspiration for anyone seeking coherence and meaning. A wealth of personal anecdotes and teaching stories are woven throughout the text to provide practical applications for these lessons and concrete examples of their power to change lives.

Edwin Clark (Toby) Johnson, Ph.D., is a writer, editor and former psychotherapist now in semi-retirement. During the 1970s, he lived in Northern California and was on staff for many of Joseph Campbell’s appearances during that time and corresponded with Campbell for over a decade. He is author of two spiritual autobiographies, two books on gay spirituality, and four novels. His 1990 novel Secret Matter received a Lambda Literary Award in the Science Fiction category and the 2000 book Gay Spirituality, a Lammy in Spirituality/Religion.

From 1996-2003, Johnson edited White Crane: A Journal of Gay Men’s Spirituality. He worked as a literary editor and book designer with Lethe Press, 2005-2015. He’s been hosting a MeetUp Group in Austin on Spirituality for over seven years. And he’s on the Steering Committee of Austin’s LGBT Coalition on Aging.

In 2018, Toby and Kip were legally married on their 34th anniversary.

Johnson’s website is tobyjohnson.com

The Photo posted is from 1980, when the first edition of The Myth of the Great Secret was published. This was on the back of the book. The photo was taken by Toby's dear friend Leslie Peterson.